My Thoughts

 Oh my, I can so vividly remember the excitement, the joy even, of opening the AOL app and hearing "you've got mail"- the eventual reward for waiting for the dial up to reach across time and space to connect to a world that had been so remote only a year previous. I, like so many others, found new friends (connections) in those early chat rooms - reading the conversations of strangers and finding familiar threads of commonality.  For a couple of years, I even had a couple of steady email friends who brought my loneliness into companionship and helped me also discover my sequestered voice again. Even 22 years later, the Tom Hanks / Meg Ryan movie enchants me.  I try to watch it at least once a year and to use it as a guidepost into my own growth.  This year, as I watched it, I was caught off guard to a new fact that I have seemingly ignored for a long time - Joe and Kathleen were "cheating" on their relationships.  The dark and often crippling reality of "in...

I am truly enjoying reading the novels of Willa Cather recently.  Set in the Plains states during the late 1800s, I am getting an opportunity to experience what would've been the life of my Swedish ancestors.  Many of Cather's main characters are of Swedish descent, and the reasons for their migration across the Great Plains was often financial opportunity and the promise of carving out a life.  Although fictional, much of Cather's life is recorded in these stories.  I did not select the Cather novels because of these factors.  In fact, I had no idea what she wrote.  I just knew her name. Imagine my great surprise when the topics of her novels allowed me to connect with my Swedish ancestry.  To date, I have completed "My Antonia" and "O Pioneers".  I have started "Song of the Lark"; I am not sure what to think about it yet. My other trip through history comes with "Downton Abbey".  It only offers a glimpse of history related to th...

As the sky began to wake this morning to the melody of morning doves and pigeons, I sat with my first cup of coffee in hopes of finding something on cable to distract (interest) me while I had some time to myself.  I love this time of the morning when the world is just beginning to wake and I am left alone to my own devices.  Often, I spend this time reading (blogs, news stories, book reviews).  It's sorta my "New York Times" review of those things that interest me.  Twenty years ago, I read "USA Today" and "Newsweek" and sometimes threw in "People" or "TV Guide".  The advent of the internet has significantly altered this pattern of reading.  In fact, I am surprised that many newspapers and magazines are still in circulation in paper form. Finding "Julie and Julia" on cable, I settled in for what I thought would be an hour or two of relaxing.  That goal soon changed.  Catching the movie at the beginning, I was so motivat...

I read a news article that stated the Aquaphor is falling again even after some substantial rain this year. Seriously? Let's talk about the basics of supply and demand with 100 people a day moving into Austin. It doesn't take a genius to understand that the small amount of wate r that does exist is getting demanded more and more. I think the new movie "Interstellar" will have so much potential to tell people the dangers of our carefree human race. The greatest threat to the United States does not come from immigration, it comes from for our poor policies related to food and water usage and distribution. It is almost too comical to listen to people complain about things that have no bearing on our future, either in the world or just within the United States. If you have 10 gallons of water, that is enough water for one person for 10 days or enough water for 10 people for one day.  It's basic math.   More people will need more water .  Water ...

~Vacation Day 2~ As I woke this morning way too early for my first full day off, I realized that I should get out of bed and make the outmost of my vacation. I am totally excited that the doctor gave me a clean bill of health, but this "cold" still makes me a bit groggy. Day 2 has in store for me filling out job applications and updating my resume. Completely restless in my job and not having enough patience, I feel doors are shutting for me. I was talking with a trusted coworker about the disparity of my feelings...........on one hand, I really do like my job. On the other hand, it is not what I want to do with my career. He used this example. As a young man, he had a job working at an ice rink.............he says it was the most amazing job he has ever had: skating all the time, driving the zamboni, meeting different people. But, he wanted to be a policeman, and that was what he continued to work toward. This last two years of emotional growth for me has enabled me to stri...

OMG!! I don't spook easily. I am not normally prone to superstitious ramblings. Guess I forgot to lock the front door. I had gone into my bedroom to get my shoes when I thought I heard a knock at the door. So I go to the door and no one is there. Going back into my bedroom to get my shoes, I hear the front door open and close. I am thinking it is Melanie home for lunch, but it isn't. Grabbing the first thing I see to use as a potential weapon, my heart races as I slowly walk through my house waiting for someone to jump out at me. As room by room I make sure all is clear, my breathing begins to return to normal. I manage to get the dry goods from the car to my house. Just as I am ready to sit down and return to watching "Case 39", my phone rings, scaring me back into a state of panic. It was Melanie saying she was headed home for lunch. I was so excited 'cause then I would have someone else to live out this state of paranoia with me. Finally, I sat ...

As I sit here desperately attempting to finalized a paper for Principles of Education , my mind continues to drift. I am thinking about work, about the upcoming holiday season, about paying bills and finding a way to survive all the stress. I am feeling actualy very unmotivated. I keep asking myself, "why"? We talked in class about the movie "Waiting on Superman". I think about the Harlem Children's Zone and education. I think also about my own ideals of how one person can truly be Superman and make a difference. Am I truly that naive?? I haven't seen the movie yet. I kinda wish Superman would come take me away for a while, maybe a nice cruise over downtown. Back to my paper now..............:)